Physicians and other medical personnel apply intravenous (“IV”) infusion therapy to treat various medical conditions in patients. IV infusion therapy typically involves infusing medical fluids, such as medications, IV fluids or IV nutrients, from a fluid supply or container, such as a bag or bottle, through a fluid administration set to a cannula inserted into a patient's blood vessel.
Hospitals and other institutions continually strive to provide quality patient care. Medical errors, such as when a patient receives the wrong medication or receives the correct medication at the wrong time or in the wrong dosage, are significant problems for all health care facilities. The errors may vary and include errors in the administration route and errors in timing of the administration of medication. Despite significant quality control procedures, there still exists some risk that an incorrect fluid container may become mounted to a pump or pump channel.
It is desirable to have a system and method that provide for accurate and efficient communication between a medical fluid container, an infusion pump, and a patient for verifying that the right medication is delivered to the right patient at the right operating parameters. A further need has been recognized for a system and method that automatically updates the patient's medication administration record. The present invention fulfills these needs and others.